The passing of the unofficial "420" holiday this weekend brought an oft-hidden side of campus culture out into the open. As 4:20 p.m. approached on Sunday, students flooded the library roof, smoke curled into the air and a roaring trade in burritos and afternoon snacks quickly arose.
Although policemen rapidly cleared the scene, this short-lived sense of community served as a reminder of the quiet role that marijuana plays on the Tufts campus and many others.
While it is difficult to statistically pin down the prevalence of marijuana on college campuses, the Federal Office of National Drug Control Policy recently reported that in 2006 46.9 percent of college students had tried marijuana, while 16.7 percent had used the drug in the 30 days prior to the survey. The American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment found that 19.6 percent of college students used the drug very occasionally, while 10.6 percent of students reported marijuana use 1-9 days a month. 1.7 percent of students reported daily use.
Ian Wong, the director of health education of the Alcohol and Drug Program at Health Services, is conducting a student survey that will provide more insight into marijuana use at Tufts. Although he is still waiting on the results, he said he believes the drug's use at Tufts to be close to these statistics and on par with that of other campuses. "It doesn't seem like [marijuana] is a bigger problem here than anywhere else," he said.
One senior male, John*, whose daily use of the drug has given him a
considerable level of insight into the role that marijuana plays on campus, believes that there are three different levels of marijuana use at Tufts.
"There are the true stoners, who might be associated with the Bonnaroo [Music Festival] crowd, who believe there is a cultural and spiritual element to weed," John said. "Then there are the people who do it just once in a while; infrequent smokers who really enjoy it. The third and final group, which I think is the most common, are affluent students [who use marijuana to] waste time and money with like-minded friends."
While John does not believe that marijuana use is more common at Tufts than anywhere else, he does believe that the relatively high level of wealth in the student body, along with the competitive nature of the school, renders the atmosphere of the school one that lends itself to frequent use of the drug.
"At more competitive universities, there is usually a higher percentage of weed users, but those are also higher tuition schools," he said.
Wong said that Health Services often councils students who are concerned about their use of the drug. It is, however, more difficult to recognize a problem with marijuana than it might be to recognize a problem with alcohol, which often manifests itself in specific incidents.
"A lot of times with alcohol, people do things they very much regret. With marijuana that doesn't always happen, but it slowly sneaks up on students," Wong said. "People [who use marijuana] will come to college really wanting to
participate, and will see their grades and participation starting to wane. They'll find that they're not going to class or doing their homework that much."
John noticed a similar pattern among his peers who use the drug heavily. "I would say that nine times out of 10, it creates a problem," he said. "Four or five times out of 10, a person gets brought down and doesn't even notice."
He added that he has noticed a marked difference between the behavior of older and younger students and their use of marijuana. "At Tufts, kids start out really letting loose with the freedom you get on a college campus," he said. "It decreases over time. Many people quit smoking before junior and senior year."
One sophomore male, Jeff*, an occasional recreational smoker during his freshman year at Tufts, chose to quit smoking.
"I have friends who have tried to get summer jobs and internships with the government, some of which have rules saying you can't have smoked in the last three years," Jeff said. "It made me think that [smoking] wasn't worth the hassle, especially since I was doing it rarely."
Many students, however, continue recreational indulgence on an occasional basis. Another sophomore, Brian*, said that his marijuana use is strictly social, with varying frequency. "If it's a Thursday night, and you don't really have a lot of work to do or anything to go to, you can throw your own little party," he said.
Brian said he believes that while heavy smokers do exist at Tufts, occasional smokers like himself are more common. "There are definitely people who smoke [very often]. I lived in a hall last year where it seemed like thousands of dollars in weed were getting moved every week," he said. "There's definitely that subset of people, but there's a larger group of people who smoke like I do, perhaps on a weekend or on a nice day."
Despite its frequency among college students, Wong, along with the students interviewed for this article, found it relatively rare that marijuana use provides a gateway into other kinds of drug use at Tufts.
"I have never been a big supporter of the 'gateway drug' theory," Wong said. "I believe that the genetic makeup of a person, if they come from a background of addiction, could lead them to other drugs."
John also said he does not believe that marijuana plays a gateway role at Tufts any more than any other substance might. "In any situation, it is always the person, not the drug," he said. "I don't think it's the drug, but the freedom to do the drug, that might cause some sort of gateway syndrome."
Wong added, however, that smoking can have other indirect consequences that affect the safety of others. "I've heard anecdotally of students covering up smoke alarms, endangering others so that they can smoke, which puts everyone in danger," he said.
* Names have been changed.
